The presenting clinical pictures and courses of seven patients with thrombocytopenia, decreased megakaryocytes in the marrow, and minimal changes in other hematopoietic cell lines are described. Little information exists in the literature on such patients. Initial bone marrow aspiration and biopsy in all patients showed decreased megakaryocytes with an otherwise normal marrow. Erythrocyte mean corpuscular volume was elevated in five of seven patients. Bone marrow karyotypes of six of the seven patients were normal. Chromium-51 platelet survival studies with platelet sizing, done in five of the seven patients, showed normal results. In two patients the course progressed to aplastic anemia. One of these died 9 months after presentation, and one responded dramatically to lithium. One patient developed preleukemia and died. The other four patients have remained thrombocytopenic but clinically stable. No useful therapy was identified. The differential diagnosis of such patients should include idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura with misinterpretation of morphologic findings, hereditary and acquired aplastic anemia, preleukemia, and systemic lupus erythematosus.

Summary It is well known that patients with lymphoproliferative disorders have an altered immune status and are susceptible to opportunistic and non-opportunistic infections. The authors report the first case of a patient with advanced Hodgkin’s disease who developed pneumonia caused by the animal pathogen Bordetella bronchiseptica. The most likely source of this organism was the patient’s dog. While B. bronchiseptica is often responsible for outbreaks of pneumonia and septicaemia in wild and domestic animals, its role and incidence in human infections is not known. It is felt that patients with underlying lymphoproliferative diseases and pneumonia should be questioned about any contact with animals.

A case of subacute motor neuronopathy in association with thymoma is described. Subacute motor neuronopathy is marked by a painless, progressive, and asymmetric muscle weakness that usually affects the lower extremities. It is a rare paraneoplastic effect of tumors that has been described with both Hodgkin's and non‐Hodgkin's lymphoma. This is the first case report of its association with thymoma.

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